Armament for aircraft



I Feb. 26, 1923.

1,446,000. 0. DAVlS. ARMAMENT FOR AIRCRAFT.

FILED NOV. 18, 1920. 4 SHEETSSHEET 1.

g Iya/emfor J UZeZaZZdJaZ Z S, W WMQ Feb. 20, 1923. 1,446,000.

0. DAVIS.

ARMAMENT FOR AIRCRAFT.

FILED NOV. 18, 1920. 4 SHEETS-SHEET 2 & 2.

NR. v

Feb. 20, 1923. 1,446,000.

0. DAVIS. v

ARMAMENT FOR AIRCRAFT.

FILED NOV. 18. 1920. 4 SHEETSSHEET 3 Feb. 20, 1923. 1,446,000.

I c. DAV lS. ARMAMENT FOR AIRCRAFT.

FILED NOV. 18, 1920- 4 SHEETS-SHEET 4- x S J a W. Y CZeZand flax/Z6Patented Feb. 20(1923.

' UNITED STATES CLELAND DAVIS, OF THE UNITED STATES J N'AVY.

nizimiimnr-roa amonarr.

Y Application filed November 18, 1920. Serial No. 424,979.

To all whom it may cohaem: Be it known that I, CLELAND DAVIS, Commander,vUnited States Navy, a'citizen of the United States, residing atEnglewood Clifl's, in the county ofBergen andState of New Jersey, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Armaments for Aircraft;and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exactdescription of the invention, such as will en,- able others skilled inthe art to which it appertains to make-and use the same.

My present invention relates to improvements in armaments for aircraft,and it is intended to provide an armament which may be quickly appliedto or removed from the aircraft, and in which the guns are loaded at afixed base and arepointed in a predetermined direction relative to theaircraft and are carried in groups without any surplus ammunition, andwithout the necessity of requiring gun crews to load the guns; all thework of operating the gun being to fire the gun or the battery at theproper time and when pointed in the proper direction.

f To utilize aircraft to mount and operate guns of large calibre twoessential characteristics are required: The guns must be of verylightconstruction so that each machine can carry the greatest possiblenumber of the: largest caliber; and the guns must be of a type thatgives no recoil on firing. These qualities are to be found, so

far as now known, only in the type of nonrecoil gun disclosed in myPatents Nos. 1,108,715, dated August 25, 1914, 1,108,716, also'dated'August25, 1914, and entitled, 'Apparatus for firing projectilesfrom aircraft. I

The effectiveness of gun fire from aircraft is limited by the fact thatthe speed of the machine makes it difficult to obtain more than one wellaimed shot from a single gun during one passage of the machine over atarget. Further, to provide gun crews and ammunition for reloading inthe air would so greatly increase the weight to be carried that thenumber of guns in the battery would be reduced; In order to secure thegreatest possble volume and con"- centration of fire, I proposetofutilize the weight taken up by gun crews and 1111111111" nition formounting additional guns andv operate the guns as single firers, the,ma-

chine to return to basefiring caliber than those shown in Figure 1,eachgun being separately mounted on the fuselage, and one of the gunsbeing shown in axial section; and- Figure 3 shows a biplane providedwith a battery mounted in multiple units, each group of 'five guns beingsuitably secured together and securely attached to the biplane; andFigure 4 shows diagrammatically an arrangement of electric clrcuits forthe guns singly, or in groups, or alto ether.

eferring first to Figure 1, A and A indicate the upper and lower wingsof an aeroplane having the central float B comprising the fuselage, andthe side floats C.

D and D are clamping members secured at opposite sides of the fuselage,and adapted to grip the gun bodies E below the set collars e thereon.These clamping members are closed andlocked by the'bolts F, but

may be conveniently opened for the insertion or removal of the gun bodyafter it has been loaded. The loading of the gun body should preferablybe attended to at some fixed base and the guns put in place on theaircraft after being loaded.

For convenience in shifting the individual guns, eyes 6' may be providedto engage suitable hooks or slings (not shown).

, Referring nowto Figure 2, the guns E are connected separately to thesides ofthe 'fusilage. I-have shown in this figure five;

guns securedto one side of the fusilage, and there would obviously be asimilar number of guns, not shown, connected to the oppositeside of thefuselage.

These guns are secured in clamping members D similar tothose alreadydescribed,

whichengage beneath the ribs or collars e on the gun body, asshown, andthere being practically no longitudinal thrust on the gun body when thegun is fired, the weight of the gun body taken by the annular ribs orcollars 6 will be sufficient to hold the gun firmly in place in theclamping members The gun bodies may be provided with eyes 6 to engagehooks or slings, not shown, for convenience in lifting the gun bodiesand removing them from or applying them to the aircraft.

In the construction shown in Figure 3, there are .two groups of fiveguns, each mounted on each side of the fuselage, and these guns in eachgroup are connected together by clamping tie pieces G, the upper one'or"which is preferably provided with eyes g for engaging lugs or slings forremoving the group when desired. Eachgroup is detachably secured to theside of the aircraft by means of suitable brackets H.

All of the guns in each group are loaded at the base and the entiregroup is then mounted in place on the aircraft, and all of the uns ofeach group or all the guns of all t e groups may be fired simultaneouslyif desired. 7 v

A great variety of arrangements for accomplishing such results might beprovided, and I do not claim 'in the instant application any specialapparatus or arrangement of circuits for accomplishing these results;

but an arrangement of circuits for carrying out this invention is showndiagrammatically in Fig. 4, in which I have shown two groups of guns,four guns in each group and an arrangement whereby any one gun may befired, or any number in any groups, or all in one group, or some of theguns in one group and some in the other group, or all the guns in bothgroups may be simultaneously fired.

In Figure 4 the guns of each group are indicated at E. M represents anysuitable source of electricity, such as the electric battery, or anyelectrical generator that may be carried by air craft, and used eitherfor this purposealone or for other purposes as well. The positive poleof this source of electricity is connected tothe main conduc tor N whichin turn is connected to the guns in the right hand group by the branchconductors n. The other terminal of the source 'of electricity isconnected byv the main N and the branches at to the guns in the other orleft hand group. 7 Leading from the firing mechanism'of the respectivegroups of guns, which is well known in the art, are the returnconductors p and p which may be connected, respec-. tively, to thebranch conductorsg and g by means of the various switches 1 to 8. Thebranch conductors g are connected to the main/Q, and the branches 9 areconnected to the. main Q which are, respectively, connected to theconductors Q and Q The conductor Q is connected to the switch 9, and theconductor Q is provided with a contact 9 adapted to engage the switch10. These switches 9 and 10 may be simultaneously operated in anyconvenient way, as by means of the rod T, having the handle 2, and theswitches 9 and 10 are shown as engaging between the pins t and t at eachend of the rod T. i

The switches 9 and 10 may be disengaged from these pins and closedseparately, or the two switches may be simultaneously closed by movingthe rod T to the left, as shown in, Fig. 4. In order to fire the gunssingly, close the switches 9 and 10 and leave the switches l to 8 open,then by closing any one or more of theseswitches l to 8 the circuit isclosed through the corresponding gun or guns, and these guns may. beelectrically fired. s

In order to fire all of the right hand group of guns, or any number ofsaid group, open the switch 9 and close the corresponding switches l to4-, and then when the switch 9 is closed the desired number of guns ofthe right hand group may be simultaneously fired. In a similar way, ifit is desired tofire the left hand group simultaneously, or more thanone of the said group, close the corresponding switches 5 to 8, or asmany of them as desired, meantime leaving the switch 10 open, and thenclose the switch 10, and electric circuits will be completed through thevarious guns of the left hand group, and such guns as may have theirswitches 5 to 8 closed will be electrically fired.

If it is desired to simultaneously fire all 'of the guns of both groups,close all the switches 1 to 8, leaving the switches 9 and 10 in the openposition as shown in Fig. 4:, and then close the switches 9 and 10, andelectric circuits will be completed through all of the guns, and all ofthe guns may be simultaneously fired.

It'will thus be seen that with this arrangement a single gun of eithergroup may be fired, or as many guns of each group as desired may besimultaneously fired, and at the same time one or all of the'guns of the'othergroup may be fired if desired, or any one or all of the guns ofboth groups may be simultaneously fired."

While I have shown two groups only, it will be obvious that any numberof groups may be controlled by a similar system of electric circuits.

For convenience of illustration I have shown guns mounted in groups ateach side of the aeroplane, but it will be obvious that the guns may bemounted in any other suitable relation with regard to the longitudinalaxis of the aeroplane, and I do not mean to limit the invention to theprecise arrangement or location of the guns. if

It will be observed that the largest possible number of guns of a givencaliber can be mounted and a maximum volume and concentration of fireobtained.

While the invention is primarily intended to apply to aircraft designedand constructed for military or naval use, it is also intended toprovide an armament which, may be readily applied to or detached fromcommercial aircraft with slight additions only to the construction ofthe same, which additionsmaybe quickly made, and thus a fleet ofmerchant aircraft can be quickly converted into a powerful fleet ofarmed aircraft, ready for use for military or naval purposes.

It will. be obvious that various modifications might be made in theherein described devlce, and in the construction, combination andarrangement of parts which could be used without departing from thespirit of my invention; and I do not mean to limit the invention to suchdetails except as particularly pointed out in the claims.

Having thus described my invention what I claim and desire to secure byLetters Patent of the United States is 1. An armament for aircraftcomprising a plurality of nonrecoil guns and means for detachablyconnecting said guns when loaded to the aircraft, and for removingstantially as described.

means for detachably same when desired, and means for said guns,substantially as described.

' n armament for aircraft comprising a plurality of groups of nonrecoilguns, means for detachably connecting said guns when loaded to theaircraft, and for removing same when desired, and means for firing saidguns, substantially as described.

3. An armament for aircraft comprising a plurality of groups ofnonrecoilguns, means for detachably connecting said guns when'loaded tothe aircraft, and for removing same when desired, and means for firingsaid 'guns in groups, substantially as described.

4. An armament for aircraft comprising a plurality of groups ofnonrecoil guns, means for detachably connecting said guns when loaded tothe aircraft, and for remov firing ing same when desired, and means forsimultaneously firing said guns in groups, sub- 5. An armament foraircraft comprising a plurality of groups of..nonrecoil guns, connectinggroup unlts of said guns when loaded to the aircraft,

. and for removing said group units when desired, and means forsimultaneously firing said guns scribed.

6. An armament for aircraft comprising a plurality of groups ofnonrecoil guns, means for detachably connectlng each group of said gunsto'the aircraft in in groups, substantially as desubstantially parallelrelation to each other, and for removing saine when desired, and meansfor firmg said guns, substantially as described.

11 armament for aircraft comp-rising a plurality of groupsof nonrecoilguns, means for detachably connecting each group of said guns whenloaded to the aircraft in substantially parallel relation to each other,and for removing same when desired, and means for firing said guns ingroups, substantially as described.

8. An armament for aircraft comprising a plurality of groups ofnonrecoil guns, means for detachably connecting each group of said gunswhen loaded to the aircraft in substantially parallel relation to eachother, and for'removing same when desired, and means forsimultaneouslyfiring said guns scribed. 1 4 9. An armament for aircraft comprising aplurality of groups of nonrecoil guns, the gunsof each group beingsecured together with their axes substantially parallel, means fordetachably connectin group units of said guns when loaded to theaircraft, and for removing said group units when desired. and means forsimultaneously firing said guns in groups, substantially as described.

10. An armament for aircraft comprising a plurality of nonrecoil guns,means for detachably mountin said guns when loaded in a fixed axialirection on the aircraft, means for removing same when desired, andmeans forfiring said "guns,'substantially as described.

11. An armament'for aircraft comprising a plurality of groups ofnonrecoil guns, means for detachably mountin said guns when loaded in afixed axial irection on the aircraft, means for removing same 'whendesired, and means far firing said guns, substantially as described.

An armament for aircraft comprising a plurality of groups of nonrecoilguns, means for detachably mounting said guns when loaded in a fixedaxial direction on the aircraft, means for removing same when desired,and means for firing said guns in groups, substantially as described.

13. An armament for aircraft comprising a plurality of groups ofnonrecoll guns, means for detachably mounting said guns when loaded inafixed axial direction on the aircraft, and forremoving same when degsired, and means for-simultaneously firing said guns in groups,'substantlally as described.

14. A. method of aerial warfare which consists in. supplying a heavierthan air aircraft with a pluralit of loaded nonrecoil guns rigidly but detachably mounted thereon and in substantially parallel relation, andfiring said guns singly .or in groups.

in groups, substantially as de- 15. A method of aerial warfare whichconsists in supplying a heavier than air craft with a plurality ofloaded 'nonrecoil guns rigidly but detachably mounted thereon, each ofsaid guns hav ng its axis fixed relative to the longitudinal axis of theaircraft, and firing said guns singly or in groups.

16. Afmethod of operating nonrecoil guns from aircraft which consists inattaching 10 loaded guns to said aircraft while at rest, taking the air,firing said guns from the air,

returning to base, removing the discharged guns and replacing them withloaded guns.

OLELAND DAVIS.

